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House of Delegates to Meet on October 29, 2021
The annual House of Delegates (HOD) meeting provides Oregon lawyers the opportunity to approve increases to annual licensing fees, approve changes to the Oregon Rules of Professional Conduct, modify or rescind actions of the Board of Governors, and direct the Board of Governors in future actions.
This year, the Oregon State Bar’s House of Delegates is scheduled to meet on October 29, 2021. The meeting, and the regional meetings preceding the annual meeting, will be virtual.
Proposed resolutions were due to the Oregon State Bar by September 15, 2021. The HOD agenda with resolutions was published on October 8, 2021, and can be found on the Oregon State Bar’s HOD webpage. This year the HOD has the opportunity to review proposals addressing adequate funding for the Oregon Judicial Department, indigent defense, and civil legal aid; Oregon Rule of Professional Conduct; the bar’s diversity and inclusion assessment; and others.
HOD regional meetings were held on October 12 to 14, 2021. The schedule for these remote meetings can be found here.
For more information on the HOD meeting, the proposed resolutions, and reports from the Board of Governors, please visit the Oregon State Bar’s HOD webpage. If you have any questions, please contact Cassandra Dyke by email at [email protected].
Oregon Legislature Passes Redistricting Maps in 1st Special Session of 2021
On September 20, 2021, the Oregon Legislature met for the 1st Special Session of 2021 to address its constitutional redistricting requirements.
Unlike the previous redistricting process completed in 2011, the US Census process had determined that Oregon experienced a sufficient increase in population to warrant a new federal congressional seat. Further, because of the delay in U.S. Census results due to the COVID pandemic, the legislature had a significantly shorter timeline to develop, review, and vote on legislative and Congressional maps.
In light of the delay, legislative deadline for adopting the decennial redistricting plan was September 27, 2021. If maps were not adopted by September 27, 2021, the congressional redistricting would be handled by a panel of Oregon judges, and the state legislative redistricting would be handled by Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan.
Three bills were introduced:
The three bills passed the Senate on September 20. However, when the bills moved to the House, there was significant pushback. The House was unable to reach quorum, and further, the Speaker announced that there had been a positive COVID case in the Capitol. With that information, the legislature cancelled the September Legislative Days and went into recess with the plan to return over the weekend.
After negotiations over the weekend, the legislature returned to the Capitol on Monday, September 27, 2021. That morning, the House Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting met to adopt a modified Congressional map found in SB 881A. While the bill passed out of committee on a party-line vote, quorum was reached on the House floor, and both the congressional redistricting bill (SB 881A) and the state legislative redistricting bill (SB 882) successfully passed through the legislative process. Governor Brown signed the bills on the evening of September 27, 2021.
On October 11, 2021, former Secretary of State Bev Clarno, along with three other former elected officials, filed a challenge to SB 881A, the congressional map. This suit will be reviewed by a panel of five judges, each judge from a different Oregon congressional district.
Uniform Trial Court Rules Committee Meeting
On October 15, 2021, the Uniform Trial Court Rules (UTCR) Committee will meet to discuss proposed UTCR changes. The proposed changes, and a schedule of next year’s meetings, will be posted for public comment on the Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) website.
At the spring 2022 meeting, the UTCR Committee will consider public comment on these UTCR proposals before making final recommendations to the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Final changes to the rules adopted by the Chief Justice will be posted on the OJD website. Any changes to the rules will take effect August 1, 2022.
The committee encourages public participation and comment on all proposals before the committee. Please email your comments, questions, information, and agenda items to [email protected]. The current list of UTCR proposals as well as the statement from OJD can be found here.
Judicial Updates—Silverlight File and Serve Shutdown on October 11, 2021
Currently, there are two electronic filing sites for Oregon’s circuit courts and the Oregon Tax Court, an “old” Silverlight File & Serve site (https://oregon.tylerhost.net/) and an HTML 5 File & Serve site (https://oregon.tylerhost.net/ofsweb).
Due to the scheduled end of Microsoft technical support and security updates, the “old” Silverlight File & Serve site was taken offline the evening of Monday, October 11, 2021. Once the Silverlight site is offline, any attempts to access the Silverlight site will result in a redirection to the HTML 5 File & Serve site.
If you were using the Silverlight site, the Oregon Judicial Department has provided training and FAQs for the transition to the HTML 5 site.
The main difference between the Silverlight and HTML 5 sites is their appearance. Your login credentials are the same, and all of your information is available on both sites. The HTML 5 site is compatible with most modern browsers (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari).
Below are links to trainings, guides, and FAQs for the HTML 5 site.
HTML 5 site trainings and guides: https://odysseyfileandserve.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360003801792
HTML 5 site FAQs: https://odysseyfileandserve.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360003807591
Archives
Thank you for reading the Oregon State Bar’s CAPITOL INSIDER.
The archives are available here.
2021 Oregon State Bar Officers and Public Affairs Chair
David Wade, President, Oregon State Bar
Kamron Graham, President Elect, Oregon State Bar
Liani Reeves, Immediate Past President, Oregon State Bar
Katherine Denning, Chair, Public Affairs Committee, Oregon State Bar Board of Governors
For questions about articles, legislation, or the legislative process, please contact:
Susan Grabe, Public Affairs Director
Amy Zubko, Public Affairs Legislative Attorney